Ring Along the River

How are we alone and how are we together, in this complicated, mysterious world? In Robert Nordstrom's thoughtful new collection, Ring Along the River, we find poems of reflection, memory, tenderness, and hope. With striking images and inventive phrasing, Nordstrom brings to his readers the gift of insight from a life well-lived. Pondering how small we can feel, amidst the vastness of everything, Nordstrom observes the "Hole in the night sky, / blue eye of God peeking through." These are poems of close observation, with a reverence for the experience of being human. Perhaps we are all just a "river of words / seeking all ways / to gentler waters."

-Cristina M. R. Norcross, editor, Blue Heron Review and author, The Poetry Apothecary

Robert Nordstrom's book Ring Along the River looks closely at small, everyday moments, as well as larger life events, and finds complexities in them all. Humor, grief, and poignant observations balance this collection. A look in the mirror reflects the naked body "offering pause and gratitude / dressed in breath." A look into the past reveals concerns "that felt like secrets then, / but history now." Nordstrom insists we "not gaze heavenward" for meaning, but recognize that "what's near is here" and meaningful on its own. We're asked to honor "this river of words" flowing through our lives. Let's remember, along with Nordstrom, that "it is good to celebrate today what [we] will one day grieve."

-Carolyn Adams, author, Going Out to Gather

The poems in Robert Nordstrom's collection, Ring Along the River, like science, find more questions than answers, even as he realizes "One must look closely." "Our jealous God [is] so much like us," Nordstrom notes, and beauty "becomes [his] stumbling way forward." Here we find "the slow melt of mystery / and memory." "Surrender or run?" he asks, yet you will see there is no surrender in these poems.

-Tom Montag, author, Curlew: Home and In This Place